Susan Apps-Bodilly's Blog

These are some of the fiction books I took out of student book boxes while cleaning up the room this year. . . along with many copies of Dogman.

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I didn’t know packing up the room would be difficult. Then, I went into my “time warp” classroom. The calendar still said March. The lessons and materials were ready to go for the week of March 16, 2020 – which turned out to be the first week of the “stay at home order”. I emptied student desks and put everything into grocery bags with the student’s name on the front. I packed up all of the unfinished work, crayons, pencils, and markers. In each bag, I put all of the little treasures that were in each desk – special hand-drawn figures that had been cut out and colored, bookmarks, little notes that were written from a friend.

The most difficult thing was emptying all of their book boxes. Each student has a book box for books they are reading, hope to read, or just like the looks of. They bring the box over to their seat for silent reading or move it next to a friend for partner reading. I put the school library books in one pile, the public library books in another pile, and the classroom library books sorted into fiction and nonfiction to be put away.

There was big excitement when my class discovered my copies of “Super Happy Party Bears” by Marcie Colleen. The books are autographed by the author because I went to a reading and bought one of each copy! She personalized each one. The kids talked about these books, shared them, and tried to figure out who gets which one next. Obviously, many students are reading at home. Our online reading lessons are good. But . . . it’s not the same.

I pulled out all of the bookmarks, sticky notes, and whatever else they used as a bookmark. Books that never got finished. That’s how I feel about our school year. It’s a strange feeling. I want to go back and finish the read aloud I was reading to the whole class. Do our end of the year activities. Finish with a great community-building picture book. So, the school year is ending. But it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like THE END as it usually does. This school year feels like the middle of a book where the bookmark gets yanked out.

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These last weeks, I’ve really needed time outside. Sitting and doing “online teaching” from home is not what I usually do this time of year.

This is supposed to be the week of dress rehearsals for our school musical. It’s the time for the special end of the year activities to celebrate our growth together, clean up the classroom, have a school field day, plant our school garden. Instead, we are all at home.

I keep wondering if “Nature” knows there is a global pandemic going on? Or, is Nature just doing what it always does in spring and moving on ahead with growing, opening up, and enjoying longer days? Does Nature feel the uncertainty that I do? Or, is it just continuing on, doing what it knows how to do?

I feel envious of the flowers and plants in my garden. While I’m not sure what to do and what is coming next, Nature seems to know. I go outside and watch.

The release date for Sarah J. Carlson’s newest YA novel titled Everything’s Not Fine is May 26th, 2020!

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Book Description: Seventeen-year-old Rose uses paint to help her ignore the “elephant in the room” – her mother’s heroin addiction. Talking about it only makes it real and interrupts her dream of leaving small-town Wisconsin to attend art school. Things get emotionally painful for Rose when she finds her mother on the kitchen floor dying of an overdose. With Mom in the hospital, Rose is left to help Dad and her younger siblings while navigating life at school and her job at Walmart. Rose’s “brain is broken” but she agrees to help paint the Senior homecoming window with Rafa, the new kid from Milwaukee. Rose discovers she is still able to understand the problems of others while tending to her own. Will Mom be okay when she comes home? What’s next?

My thoughts about the book: I was given a review copy of this book and WOW! This is the kind of book you can’t put down – I felt all of Rose’s pain and wanted to reach in and help her. Sarah’s writing is a real and intense description of Rose’s life before, during, and after she discovers her mother’s addiction is no longer something that can be hidden. The description of Rose’s life in a small-town is endearing and authentic. I loved the high school art class, homecoming football, and scenes where Rose “explains” her town for big-city Rafa. Rose has to pick up the pieces and be a “Mom” for her siblings. As an elementary teacher myself, I smiled every time I read Rose’s interactions with her sibling’s teachers – so true to life. I’m excited that this book will be out soon!

I asked Sarah J. Carlson to answer these questions about the book and her writing process:

What are you most excited to share with readers of this new book? A message of hope and resilience in the face of things you can’t control, even as it shatters most of your life. Is this book related to your own experience? Everything’s Not Fine is set in my high school hometown of Sparta, Wisconsin. I was dragged there kicking and screaming in 8th grade from a suburb of Milwaukee. In the book, I tried to capture different experiences of living in a small town through both Rose and Rafa. Rose has lived in Sparta her whole life, whereas Rafa moved to Sparta from Milwaukee when he was a senior. I tried to capture the comfort (and sometimes claustrophobia) of your whole life being contained in a small place where pretty much everyone knows everyone, as well as the interconnectedness, the familiarity and predictability, and the sense of community. I also tried to capture both Rose’s desire for something unknown and bigger for her future. For Rafa, I wanted to capture his frustration and feelings of isolation at being thrown into a small town where he stands out, and other students have known each other since kindergarten. And, also how his thoughts around Sparta evolved as he started opening himself up to having a life and friends around Sparta. Rose’s big secret is that her mother is a heroin addict. This is not drawn from my personal experience, but I am a school psychologist. I see kids struggling with things that are beyond their control, that are ripping their lives apart and then they come to school every day. This story is not based on anything from my own career, but I wanted to explore a teen discovering her own resilience in the face of traumas she can’t control and finding the people she can count on for support. What was your research process? I actually wrote this book and my first book All the Walls of Belfast simultaneously while living in Singapore. One of the catalysts for setting my new book in my hometown was a bit of homesickness. All the Walls of Belfast is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and took years of research into the history, current events, dialect, culture, and setting. Obviously, I didn’t need to do all that for Everything’s Not Fine, but I wanted to treat my second book with the same lens, to capture small-town Wisconsin’s culture and dialect. I enjoyed taking trips to Sparta to research specific elements of setting and dialect. For Everything’s Not Fine, as the story was evolving, I interviewed police officers, lawyers, and social workers, and also did research on addiction and recovery. Which scenes were fun to write? The homecoming scene was fun to write because it’s the one moment in the book where both Rose and Rafa are unburdened and free together. Also, my first job was cashiering at Walmart in high school, so it was fun capturing some of my Walmart experiences on the page. Anything else you want to share? Just that, beyond sharing a story of resilience, I’m excited to show a bit of Wisconsin with the world, because growing up (and even as an adult) I haven’t read many books set here. What are you working on next? Nothing official, but playing around with something set in the biggest tourist trap in Wisconsin – Wisconsin Dells. I’m drawn to a setting.

“Alive with vibrant, raw emotion.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Along with the relatively uncommon theme of living with an addicted parent, this emotionally intense tale offers… an engaging picture of two teens circling and closing as they discover common ground.” – School Library Journal

[image error]School plants that moved home today.

I was allowed to come into my classroom to pick up anything that I needed or left last week when I thought school was going to be open. Then, over the weekend, our wise city Mayor closed all Dane County, Wisconsin schools beginning today. It was a very eerie feeling to say goodbye to my classroom today. It’s not summer. The room is not packed up. In fact, it was all ready for students to come in and learn today. Today’s date is on the board with the lunch menu and schedule. The plans are ready to go. Just no students. I checked to be sure that I hadn’t left out any food, picked up some things to work on, and carried my plants to the car. Growing at home, staying healthy in these next few weeks.

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On the warmest day we’ve had in Wisconsin this spring, folks joined me at the Sun Prairie Public Libary to talk about old recipes. I shared stories and recipes from my book Old Farm Country Cookbook. Many people had their own stories to tell. They shared memories of the iceman coming to deliver blocks of ice for the icebox in the kitchen, ways to keep a wood stove going, and how to measure and make bread. I brought some Bachelor Button cookies – a simple, brown sugar and butter cookie that is small, like a button on a coat. One person seemed to think they were made to “attract” a bachelor! Svetha Hetzler, Library Director, tried using sorghum in her cookies. It was the first time she had used that ingredient in her baking. We had a nice afternoon talking about farm food and farm tales!

When you are trying to teach about George Washington Carver and that he taught farmers to plant different crops to nourish the soil. . . and with the class, you are reading about peanuts and sweet potatoes and all of a sudden the whole class is making jokes about their actual toes – you know you’ve lost them and the lesson is going an entirely different direction.

Actual quotes:

“My toes aren’t very sweet at all – really smelly,” erupting in giggles.

“I love potatoes, especially with eggs.”

“Did you ever have French Toest? Get it?”

“Do you like these shoes? They’re new!”

“Hey, tomatoes sounds like that too! But it has ma in it!”

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The beginning of a new month can be a time to start something new. Today, I am joining the “Slice of Life” month-long writing challenge. It was started by the group – “Two Writing Teachers” – their website is https://twowritingteachers.org/. The challenge is to write something every day – a “slice of life” and join a community of teachers who know the importance of being writers themselves. It’s a way to feel the way our students feel when they write in class.

I’ll start with this vase of tulips that I got as a gift on Valentine’s Day. The bulbs are in the water, not even any soil to support them. I wasn’t sure if they would grow. But, the bulbs knew what to do and just kept growing a bit every day. Sometimes it was hard to see any change. But after a few weeks. . . the result? Something beautiful. That’s my hope for each student every day. Grow just a little bit. Every day.

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[image error] Debut novel by Sarah Carlson

I just finished reading the book All the Walls of Belfast for the second time! This debut novel by Sarah Carlson takes the reader on a journey from Madison, WI to Belfast in Northern Ireland. I know Sarah Carlson as the awesome school psychologist at my elementary school. And, now also as a young adult author! This is a great book for young adult and adult book clubs. Sarah is willing to Skype or meet with young adult and adult book clubs.
All the Walls of Belfast is set in Northern Ireland today. The two main characters are teens who both remain affected by the “Troubles” that occurred there when they were younger. A large wall still separates Danny’s Protestant neighborhood from Fiona’s dad’s Catholic neighborhood. When Fiona, living in Madison, WI, discovers that her mom has held a secret from her about her Dad and family that live in Ireland, she feels she must travel to Ireland on her own to meet her family. With their unlikely friendship, Danny and Fiona struggle to understand where their families come from and what they must do to be true to themselves in the future. Sarah’s portrayal of how inter-generational trauma affects the family is powerful and honest. Each viewpoint of the “Troubles” and how that influences decisions is balanced and true for that character. More than just a story of teenage love and angst, the description of Belfast’s setting and the wall itself are metaphors for the “walls” that families build and break through as they come to an understanding about the past in order to move into the future.

At her book launch, Sarah described her in-depth research process which spanned many years of careful study of the traditions, dialect, and culture in Belfast of both Catholic and Protestant families. Her deep understanding of both Fiona’s life in Madison, WI and her family in Ireland along with Danny’s life with friends and family in the Shankill, loyalist part of Northern Ireland make this book an important story. How do we build emotional walls around our past? Can love and understanding successfully break them down? The resilience that Danny and Fiona show amidst turmoil and family barriers is inspirational indeed!

You can find Sarah Carlson at sjcarlsonauthor.com

Note: I was given an Advanced Review Copy of this book in order to provide a fair review. I also attended Sarah Carlson’s book launch at Mystery to Me Bookstore in Madison, WI.

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I found this drawing on the table after my students left for the day. What a nice surprise! I love it that the artist included my reading glasses on top of my head. It’s good to know that at least one student thinks of me with a huge smile on my face.

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One of my favorite days of the year is Read Your Heart Out Day. Community members, high school students, and parents come into classes and read to students. It’s a celebration of reading and community engagement.

These books were read aloud to my class this year:

The Dragon Takes a Wife by Walter Dean Myers

Jojos Flying Sidekick by Brian Pinkney

Looking for Bongo by Eric Velasquez

Long Shot by Chris Paul